Welcome to 2013 - M1.7 flare

The Sun belatedly welcomed in the new year with some fireworks of its own. A large M1.7 flare was released today at 09:30 UT and was picked up by my solar flare monitor. Hopefully this will be a sign of increased activity. The Sun has been extremely quiet of late prompting some solar astronomers to say that solar maximum has already peaked.

Dave Gradwell